The United States' recent decision to walkout on the United Nations-sponsored conference on racism in light of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist language deserves to be commended. The U.S. took the moral imperative and refused to accept the lies being fomented from the conference aimed at vilifying one of its closest allies.
The world racism conference in Durban, South Africa was formed explicitly to combat international racism and discrimination. Ironically, it became the site from which many groups were espousing just the evils it was trying to eliminate. The Arab League and, by remaining silent, many European nations, used the conference to vocalize their claims that Zionism is inherently racist and that Israel's treatment of Palestinians was reminiscent of an apartheid state.
The United States showed that it would not acquiesce in the face of these deceptions. When the Arab League submitted a conference resolution draft that singled Israel out as a perpetrator, the U.S. left. The thinly veiled anti-Semitism of the Arab League's language ought not, and could not, be morally supported by the leader of the free world.
Some opponents of the decision have claimed that the U.S. missed out on an opportunity to fight racism. As Rev. Jesse Jackson stated, "We have worked diligently to fight racism, and the U.S chose to disengage" from that process.
This argument does not hold much water, however. Before the conference began, spokesmen for the Bush administration made clear that a group of "third-world nations" was trying to "hijack" the conference by forcing discussions aimed at equating Zionism with racism and that this would not be tolerated. With its departure, the United States did more than support its ally; with its overt dismay regarding the lack of discussion on relevant issues like the caste system in India, the U.S. stood at the zenith of the moral high ground.
The United States remained vigilant in light of domestic and international pressure. When a U.S. and Israeli-supported compromise resolution submitted by Norway, host nation of the Oslo Peace Accords that jump-started the Middle East Peace-Process, was soundly rejected, the two nations left. Learning from the mistakes of Neville Chamberlain, who so poignantly proved that appeasing evil in the guise of compromise is nothing but fuel for the monster, the United States and Israel made the correct decision.
The state of Israel, born of the ashes of the Holocaust, was created 53 years ago by an act of the United Nations. Bringing Israel into the world community was the realization of 2000 years of Jewish dreams, that one day they would live in a sovereign country of their own. The genesis of this event was a realization of a Jewish movement to create a homeland.
This movement is not dirty, it is not evil, and it is not intrinsically racist. Contrary to the words fomented by its Arab opponents who have battled, almost invariably for those same 53 years to destroy it, Zionism is no more racist than the Italian move for nationhood three centuries ago. Because the Jewish people are not just a religious group but also a nation of people with a unique history, language, religion and country, to be against that movement of nationhood is to attack the people entire. Any attempts to separate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism are illegitimate.
Sadly, this conference represents nothing new in the trend of anti-Semitism. Many Arab nations have tried to sabotage the U.N. over the years. It has frequently been the venue from which anti-Israel propaganda has been launched. Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed and the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 97 to 429, respectively, were directed against Israel.
The hypocrisy of the conference is patently clear. The Arab League attempted to use an anti-racism conference for the sole purpose of promoting racism of their own. By repeating the falsehood that Israel is a racist society often enough, the Arabs hope to make that lie seem a reality. Israel is not a racist society, and as the only Jewish nation surrounded by Arab countries, it desires not to make war but, like any other country, only its right to self-determination.
As the final resolution draft was written, Israel expressed its satisfaction that much of the language directed against it was removed. The tone of the statement may very well have been influenced by the U.S. and Israel's actions earlier in the week. Although the Arab League attempted to criminalize Israel at the conference, the Bush Administration and others thereafter defended the sole Middle East democracy.
It is high time that someone took a stand against the racist propaganda spewing forth from the Arab world. The Arab League tried to usurp the message of tolerance the conference represented, but could not. While the mettle of the United States will surely be tested again, the move to walk out was the right one. It is to the Bush administration's much-deserved credit that they took the road less traveled - the righteous road.
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